Listly by Will Coley
with help from Mia Lobel. This is a work in progress: Please suggest additions! There are more than 25 composers on the list (Don't miss pages 2, 3 & 4).
Also see this database of the Institute for Composer Diversity.
For "ready-made" music, please see this Listly.
I'm a freelance composer, audio post producer, multi-instrumentalist, sound designer and mixer. My first priority is that my clients walk away with a lasting impression. The goal is always that their piece is enhanced with the right feeling and completed ahead of schedule. I have composed, designed and mixed for The Guardian, ESPN, ascap, World Wide Fund for Nature, zipcar, edible, acast, Columbia University and numerous independent podcasts. I love accompanying a compelling story with great music and sound design, but more importantly, I know when and where a good piece needs space.
Self-taught pianist, music maker and verbophile. After having composed numerous scores for film and theater, Adaam James has produced two and a half albums (in a span of two years), of his own original songs. He is currently working on a third, while performing live his band, LOST AMSTERDAM. Slyly, his (at times dangerously addictive) music veers from the delicate to the explosive, and his lyrics from the fragile to the acerbic. But through it all - the albums, the texts, the clips - runs a single thread that tells the story of one, quirky, magically real world. Adaam James is a grad-student of History and Journalism and often writes for the Jerusalem Post and PoSham magazine. He's currently web-editor for Haaretz.com. Not an easy-going person at the best of times, he's notably zealous about coffee and irony.
Adam is a producer, composer and sound designer specializing in podcasting, advertising and film. He’s currently producing, recording, sound designing, mixing, and composing the original score for the immersive dystopian sci-fi audio drama Windfall. He’s also working with Dan Weissmann on editing, mixing, and composing music for An Arm and A Leg (stories have been featured on 99% Invisible). He also creates progressive rock/electronic music under the moniker Garbage Person.
Afi Scruggs started as a youngster, picking out tunes on her family’s piano. She’s matured into a dedicated musician who is an instrumentalist, a songwriter and a teacher.
Afi plays electric bass guitar, keyboards as well as mandolin, autoharp and balafon, the African ancestor of the xylophone. She plays contemporary and traditional gospel, blues, world music, jazz and R&B. But her talents go beyond performing. She’s written songs for WBEZ/Chicago Public Media. And she’s spent more than a decade as a teaching artist, using music to teach everything from financial planning to the Civil War.
15+ years project management experience. Highly organized and detail oriented; excellent analytical and interpersonal skills. Successful track record in keeping projects on schedule and working under deadline pressure. Extensive experience in using various types of audio equipment, both analog and digital
Aldon's unique vision for music has established him as a versatile composer. He embraces traditional styles and a fresh approach to composition. The end result; music and sound design that breathes life and new meaning into each product.
Alec Spiegelman is a Brooklyn-based singer, composer, arranger, & multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwinds. He is a member of the band Cuddle Magic. As a sideman, on stage and in studio, he’s worked numerous creative songwriters such as Amanda Palmer and Anais Mitchell. He’s arranged and orchestrated wind instruments on countless recordings, among them three albums by The David Wax Museum and Kristin Andreassen’s Gondolier. Currently he’s producing a record for Jennifer Kimball (formerly of The Story). His musical-comedy duo (with Kelly Roberge), Ronald Reagan – Boston’s Premier 80s Pop Saxophone Duo, has shared comedy stages with Eugene Mirman, Kristin Schaal, and Reggie Watts. His early musical education included lots of improvising in the jazz tradition (broadly defined), formal studies with Steve Lacy and Ran Blake, and a thorough (informal) grounding in r&b saxophone best-practices (a la Junior Walker) directed by Doo Wop survivor Little Joe Cook.
Alek mostly creates sound for stories and storytelling, with a particular interest in the intersections of language/linguistics and music, and the applications of these concepts to theater and live performance. Current/recent projects include: The Mountaintop (original sound/music for the Northern Stage production of the play by Katori Hall), Lost Cities (original music and lyrics, song cycle), Resfeber (original music and direction, modern dance piece premiered at Access Theater in New York City), The Sweetest Land (original score, documentary film), and Atomism, a sound installation that explores the linguistic roots of early Indian philosophy through real-time sound transmutation. In addition to his music and sound endeavors, Alek has worked variously as an electrician, lighting designer, video designer, and fundraising professional. His lighting and video work has been seen at Carolina Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and the Huntington Theatre Company. He currently serves as Development Associate at Northern Stage in White River Junction, VT, where he lives with his fiancée Jess and their cat Eloise. Alek holds a degree in English with a focus in Poetry Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his free time, Alek enjoys reading, studying Ancient Greek, and making terrible puns.
'THE PAPPARDELLA PAPI' - NYTimes
email: alesanto3@gmail.com
insta / twitter: @sandrolecirque
Alexandra is a Film, TV and media composer based in Santa Monica, CA. She is a classically trained pianist and vocalist who has composed music for indie feature and short pictures, web series, video games and podcasts. She is also working on a 1940s period musical and has released a series of indie albums and EPs with bands Old Hannah and her solo project AK. She has also worked as a music assistant on Broadway, and in film and TV. She is a graduate of USC’s prestigious SMPTV Screen Scoring Masters program.
Multi-instrumentalist, Composer, Sound Designer and Music Teacher hailing from Cornwall, UK. Much experience touring nationally in theatre shows with companies such as The National Theatre and Wise Children, as well as playing and recording in a number of bands.
A bassist with a solid reputation, an award-winning composer and bandleader, and a renowned educator; Barcelona-born Alexis Cuadrado has become one of the most sought-after musicians in the New York jazz scene. Cuadrado’s compositions show a unique voice that combines improvised and through-composed music, while drawing influences from jazz, new music and flamenco.
Allison Leyton-Brown is a composer and pianist with countless original scores written for TV, film, theater, and other media. Recent scores include This American Life and podcasts Stranglers and Outside the Box. TV scores include PBS Kids’ Emmy-winning series Peg+Cat, 20/20, and ABC’s What Would You Do? Allison performs regularly in New York City with her trio.
I'm a Venezuelan composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist with some formal training but mostly self-taught. I've been making and playing music for about 10 years, during which I released 4 albums as The Skull School, featuring a very defined evolution, from very experimental/ambient music to rock-influenced synthpop. In Venezuela, I've been nominated twice for the Pepsi Music Awards in the Electronic music category, which is essentially the Venezuelan Grammy but not really. The Skull School was also part of the FNB 2016, the biggest festival for new artists in my country.
My next goal as a musician is to make music for different media, I did the intro theme to the Marvel News Desk podcast and I want to do more of that. I'd like to think my influences are varied and I'm willing to incorporate whatever is necessary to make something unique.
Amanda Schoofs creates music that embraces presence and spontaneity while exposing the raw and intimate qualities of sound and the performing self. Infused with melody and full spectrum timbre, her acoustic and electroacoustic compositions are stunning in their visceral coherence. Her artistic practice extends through the American experimental music tradition and exists in the space between academic new music, hybrid arts, and DIY punk and noise practices.
I am forever trying to reconnect with that electricity and possibility of pure inspiration. For me, a connection can happen through watching a film (old favorite or new), collaboration with a filmmaker or another musician, creating a new piece of music or by just saying "Yes". From my studio in Seattle, Washington I have connected and collaborated with creative folks in the US and abroad. Duct Tape Then Beer, Juniper Media and Let Media are some of the awesome people I've worked with recently alongside brands like REI, Outdoor Research, Subaru and National Geographic. Award winning films and lots of friends have come from these collaborations. Oh yeah, and I've been known to play a little bit of rock. It's a pretty good life.
A native of Iceland, Andi began as a classical violinist attending both The Peabody School, and Mannes. She studied songwriting at Hampshire College, and completed her audio-engineering studies at The School of Audio Engineering in NYC where she studied under James Cruz, Paul Falcone, John Siket, and Chloe Raynes. Andi has lived in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Japan, and several US States. She has fostered lion cubs, trained owls, built schools, and volunteered at orphanages. Her films have played at BAM, TriBeCa Cinemas, LA Cinefest, Palm Beach International Film Festival, The New York Independent Film Festival, New Film-Makers New York, LAIFF, LASFF (Winner: Best Drama), the AMC in Times Square, ICP Fest (Winner: Best Comedy), Williamsburg Independent Film Festival, Chicago Irish Film Festival, and Lincoln Center's: Dance on Camera, as well as many other festivals nationally and internationally. She also freelances with various Creative Agencies around the world. Andi works out of her studio in Brooklyn, New York.
Andrew Hollander is a uniquely gifted composer/songwriter/producer with award-winning films to his name, including Adrienne Shelly’s Waitress (Fox Searchlight), one of the highest grossing independent films in history. In addition to composing the score, he and Shelly co-wrote "Baby Don't You Cry (The Pie Song).” Both film and song were short-listed for the Academy Award. Hollander also scored Mike Birbiglia’s Sundance darling, Sleepwalk With Me, and Marc Meyers’ My Friend Dahmer, which Variety called "disturbingly compelling and original.” The Hollywood Reporter lauded Hollander’s score for “deepening the sense of dread” in a film that is “one of the most disturbing coming-of-age features in recent memory.” On the lighter side, Hollander scored the HBO Emmy award-winning series A Child's Garden of Poetry and co-wrote/ produced the end-title song for the animated film Leap! with Carly Rae Jepsen, which grossed over $100 million. Hailed by IndieWire as "powerful and groundbreaking", Hollander recently scored the HBO documentary It's A Hard Truth Ain't It. Upcoming projects include Words On Bathroom Walls, co-scored with The Chainsmokers, Once Upon a Time in Uganda about maverick Ugandan filmmaker Isaac Nabwana set to have it's world premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, and Antarctica directed by Keith Bearden. An in-demand songwriter/producer, Hollander has written/produced songs for a broad range of artists from Carly Rae Jepsen and Celine Dion to Brian Elmquist of The Lone Bellow and Rozes. Most recently, he has written/ produced songs for JakeTroth (Atlantic), Jojo (Interscope), Stanaj (Republic/UMG/Lava), and UK breakout artist, Adam French (Virgin EMI). Hollander has recorded/performed with such legendary artists as Yusef Lateef, who he considers to be his greatest mentor, Hubert Sumlin, and Pinetop Perkins. He is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
My name is Andrew Ingkavet and I created this site as a resource for my fellow creatives. Way back when I was an Art Director at Digitas and later Creative Director at FCB (now DRAFT/FCB), I was always looking for great music for my work. I was shocked to find few online resources for quality production music. Being a trained composer/producer, I started creating music for myself, then my teams and soon agency-wide. An idea formed and since 2004, we’ve been serving the world great visual music that’s royalty free!
composing, spund design, themes, beats. chamber music, hip-hop, indie rock, r&b etc.
Andrew Shenkman is a writer, director and composer from Toronto, Ontario. His creative work draws from his professional experience in many different disciplines. Whether it's in his striking short fiction or quirky video art, Andrew's imagination and personality always shine through.
Ani Rider is a Brooklyn-based podcaster, sound designer, and composer. Her work can be heard in her two original podcasts: A World Where, which features highly-produced ambient soundscapes and experimental noise music, and The Mueller Report, for which she plays Americana-style acoustic guitar. She has a broad range of experience creating music and soundscapes for podcasts, audiobooks, theatrical plays, and even yoga classes. She's been composing instrumental music on guitar for a decade, and uses a variety of unique techniques such as cello bowing and uncommon tunings to create a specific, distinctive sound that will make any project stand out from the pack. If you want your podcast or video to have a sound that is unmistakably yours, Ani will work closely with you to find exactly the music that will bring your creative vision to life! Contact: anirider42@gmail.com
Annalie’s composing career began at the age of 15, when she wrote and recorded the original score to the Italian art film Il Lento, a 30 minute short that was critically acclaimed at the Venice Film Festival the same year. As a teenager Annalie was captivated by classic composers Shostakovich and Debussy, at the same time being influenced by contemporary film composers John Barry, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Angelo Badalamenti and Yann Tiersen, often spending hours at the piano working out their epic scores. Aside from the rich world of classical and contemporary music, Annalie has been influenced by traditional folk music, both from her own Celtic roots, and through her later love affair with the songs of Georgia in the Caucasus Mountains. This has led her to a propensity for richly layered backing vocals in her own songs. As a singer-songwriter Annalie has won several awards including the Leeds Bright Young Things award in 2001 and Rock The House in 2014 as Best Solo Artist. She currently performs and produces songs under the alias Luna Bec. Her music video for Breath screened at Noirfest: A Tour of Black New York in March 2023.